A Mother's Instinct
by Bingo the Cat
Summary: A surprise revelation sets the Paternoster Gang, the Doctor and Clara on a brand new journey - and with Jenny at the centre of it, it sure as hell is gonna be interesting... A Vastra/Jenny romance and family fanfic. Rating will be subject to change later on. Please read and review (R&R).


**A/N:** So, I got this idea in my head after someone's post on tumblr (on the Paternoster Gang's tumblr, to be specific) linked to their (admittedly faint) recollections of the Q&As Neve McIntosh and Catrin Stewart went through at the _Return to the Eleventh Hour_ convention. One question was about (roughly, from what I can remember!) children - and thus, this was born. It's mainly about Vastra and Jenny and future children; however, there will be some bonding time between Clara and Jenny as proud Londoners. And I apologise in advance if my writing style confuses you a bit - I'm a very fast-paced person, and prefer to write smaller stories than really long ones (you shall see this if you look at my profile, But for now, enjoy!

* * *

**CHAPTER I : CLARA TO THE RESCUE**

"So?" Clara giggled as the Doctor tugged her into the console room by her hand, grinning from ear to ear. "Where are we going this time?"

"Well," the Doctor started, "I thought that maybe we could pop in and visit our Victorian friends, you know - say a quick hello - before we go to see the first ever intergalactic concert performed by a human being! Whaddya say?"

Clara beamed. "Sounds like a plan! So, Operation: Concert will go underway in five..."

"Four..." the Doctor joined her countdown, grinning, as the TARDIS hummed and whirred in appreciation, and Clara's hand closed around the main lever.

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

"Zero!" the Doctor cried out gleefully as his companion yanked on the lever firmly, and they flew off into the Vortex.

* * *

However, when the duo landed the TARDIS in the street opposite number 13, Paternoster Row, exited looking very much Victorian citizens, and knocked on the front door, they were greeted to a very chaotic inside. Luckily, the street was empty; everyone was out and about in the city on such a lovely and warm day. Strax greeted them dutifully at the door, looking extremely wary - and possibly quite uncomfortable - as screaming and yelling wafted through the house. The two walked inside, as Strax said quietly, "They've been like this for a while, now. Just won't stop arguing. From the information I've managed to gather," he puffed his chest out at this, "it has something to do with children."

The Doctor frowned at that, but Clara had a feeling she knew what Strax meant. She hung her coat up on the hanger by the door, and headed off in the direction of the noise. She heard the Doctor call her name in confusion, but she ignored him. She stepped into the kitchen-

-and narrowly avoided having a plate shatter over her head. Her eyes widened at the disarray the kitchen was in - crockery was smashed, a glass bottle of milk lay on its side, food was splattered all over the wall, and in the midst of it all were Vastra and Jenny shouting themselves hoarse and directing their anger at each other. So far, they hadn't noticed her - that was a good thing. Clara squared herself up to her full height (which wasn't much, but that didn't matter), filled her lungs with plenty of breath, and bellowed over the pair of them:

"WHAT ON _EARTH_ IS GOING ON IN HERE?!"

The pair halted in their yelling, and looked around at Clara. Jenny put on a fake smile, and Vastra smoothed out her dress, but the young woman from 2013 wasn't fooled. She strode towards them, uprighting the milk bottle on her way, grasped the pair of them by their elbows, and pulled them through to the hallway where the Doctor and Strax stood, discussing the possibility of the married couple ever having children. She pushed Vastra over to the men, and dragged Jenny with her to the TARDIS. They disappeared inside, and everyone staring from the doorway was left to wonder about what Clara needed Jenny for.

* * *

Clara sat Jenny down in the TARDIS's medical bay, and rifled through the cupboards, searching for one particular piece of equipment from her timeline. The young Victorian maid and wife huffily crossed her arms, glowering at nothing or no one in particular and muttering foul words under her breath.

Clara's muffled "A-ha!" drew her attention, and she looked towards the young woman; she was dragging some sort of machine from a cupboard. She placed it next to the medical bed, and glanced up at Jenny after fiddling with a few knobs and buttons, and smiled. "Come over here," she said, not unkindly; Jenny stood up, and wandered over. Clara looked down briefly, and met Jenny's eyes again. She said awkwardly, "Um... I'm gonna need you to lift your shirt up over your stomach..." Jenny blushed, but obliged, unbuttoning her patterned blue vest and pulling her starched white shirt from her black pinstriped trousers. She lifted her shirt to just underneath her breasts, and settled on the bed, which - she realised now - was an examination table. Clara pushed her back so that she was laying down, and unscrewed a pot of jelly. "This might be cold," she warned Jenny, who had looked at the pot apprehensively. Clara dabbed her fingers into the pot, withdrew a small amount of the... _stuff_ (the Victorian maid couldn't think of a better name for it), and rubbed it all over the expanse of pale skin Jenny had revealed. The older woman yelped in surprise, and Clara grinned. "I did warn you."

Jenny rolled her eyes.

Clara withdrew a tiny little object from the machinery, and passed the item over Jenny's stomach. "Clara... what... are you doin'... exactly?"

"You'll see..." Clara muttered, staring intently at the monitor perched nearby. Jenny craned her head to take a look, as well. She frowned as a tiny form appeared.

"What's tha'?"

Clara smiled, and pointed at the screen. "That, Jenny... that is your baby."

Jenny froze. She couldn't believe it - she was pregnant? She couldn't be, it was impossible... But the more she looked at the image on the screen, the more she realised that it was true. Now that she looked more closely, she could see the beginning formations of arms and legs, hands and feet. She couldn't be that far along already, or she would have noticed-

Just then, there was an almight crash, and the Doctor, Vastra and Strax burst into the medical bay. The Time Lord panted heavily, and looked up at Clara, opening his mouth to talk, when he saw what was happening. His jaw just dropped even more, but his eyes glimmered with unshed tears of happiness. Vastra cautiously wandered over to her wife, and looked at the screen, too shocked for words. Unconsciously, her hand found Jenny's, and the human woman squeezed the Silurian's scaly hand in reassurance. She turned her head to look up at Vastra, and she smiled a wobbly, teary smile.

"We're gonna 'ave a baby, Vastra..."

"I can see that..." Vastra's voice was small and choked up with tears that she couldn't cry (due to a lack of tear ducts), but a tiny smile found its way onto her face, and it slowly developed into a gentle grin. She looked down at Jenny, and couldn't help but lean down and kiss her wife gently. Jenny whimpered, and kissed Vastra back, equally as gently. Clara's heart warmed at the sight.


End file.
